It’s officially the holiday season. We celebrated Thanksgiving a week early since I’m visiting my parents in Dallas, so I feel like I’ve already moved past Turkey Day and am ready for Christmas.
Have you shopped for holiday gifts yet? I haven’t even started!
I personally despise holiday shopping. I can’t stand the crowds and the chaos. However it’s so easy for me now because I just order everything on Amazon. With the internet, I can skip the malls and do my shopping with my feet up and a cup of tea. Just click add to cart and ship and you’re done!
I signed up for Amazon Prime
membership years ago. For only $75 per year, you get free shipping all year long. I figure it pays for itself just in gas, not to mention the time you waste schlepping around town to buy things. Heck, $75 is more than worth it if I don’t have to go in a mall during the holiday season.
In this post, I’ll share some wonderful gifts your loved ones will enjoy — and that will benefit their health. And yes, all of these gifts are eligible for Amazon Prime membership — which means free shipping after you pay the $75.
Maybe you’re looking for a little something for the postman or the babysitter, or you need the perfect gift for your sister or grandmother. I like to get gifts for people that they wouldn’t normally buy for themselves. Luxuries like foie gras or caviar or aromatherapy candles, or gorgeous yet inexpensive pieces of Le Creuset.
You may also want to email a link to this post to your significant other so they know what to get you. Or, even better, make a wish list on Amazon. (Here’s a link to my Amazon wish list.) My family has been using Amazon wish lists to make the holidays easier for almost 15 years.
I hope this list inspires you to get cracking on that holiday shopping! Oh, and if you’re on a budget, I’ll be publishing a list of ideas for homemade gifts soon. Stay tuned!
Gifts Under $30
1. Wild Smoked Salmon Caviar
Alaska Smokehouse Wild Smoked Salmon Caviar
– This smoked salmon caviar would make a great gift for a foodie. I love salmon roe on toast or crackers, or even on deviled eggs. You can also get some and serve on hors d’oeuvres at holiday parties.
2. Holiday-Scented Aromatherapy Candle
Illume Oversized Metallic Tin Candle Balsam & Cedar
– I love these Illume candles! I bought the pumpkin scented one and it is heavenly. I keep it on my kitchen counter and I love how the house smells. I’m going to get another to put next to the bathtub. Unlike most candles made with cloying, synthetic fragrances, these candles are made with essential oils. They burn for 50 hours.
3. Victorinox 40520 Fibrox 8-Inch Chef’s Knife
Victorinox 40520 Fibrox 8-Inch Chef’s Knife
– Everyone needs a great chef’s knife. If you know someone who doesn’t have one (it might even be you), they need to get this knife. It’s very cheap and it’s a top-of-the-line, very highly rated chef’s knife. It’s one of those things you’ll use for a lifetime and it will make your time in the kitchen so pleasurable.
4. Pure Fiji Body Lotion
Pure Fiji Body Lotion
– While I am not normally an advocate of body lotions because they are usually made of crappy ingredients, this is the exception. This lotion is made with coconut milk and it smells just like a Hawaiian vacation. I got my first bottle of this stuff this spring on a spa holiday in Palm Springs, and I’m addicted to it now. I use a combination of this and coconut oil when I get out of the shower. I love coconut oil as a moisturizer, but combined with this lotion, you will feel like you’re on vacation every day.
Gifts Under $50
5. Hamilton Beach Crock Pot
Hamilton Beach 33967 Set ‘n Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker
– My favorite crock pot! I actually own three. This is the only crock pot I know of that is lead-free.
If you know someone who is into real food, they will love you if you get them one of these babies! I use mine to make chicken, beef and fish stock, as well as stews, chili, slow-cooked briskets and roasts, and even homemade yogurt and apple butter.
6. Le Creuset Stoneware Butter Dish
Le Creuset Stoneware Butter Dish, Red
– Nothing cheers up your dinner table like this butter dish. It’s inexpensive, colorful and so durable. This would make the perfect gift for any butter lover in your life.
7. Le Creuset Stoneware Pitcher
Le Creuset Stoneware 2-Quart Pitcher
– I adore this pitcher. It’s perfect for raw milk, kefir, or a batch of smoothies. My mother-in-law makes my father-in-law (he’s almost 80) a kefir smoothie every few days to help with his digestion and make sure he gets his coconut oil. She keeps it in a pitcher and he just pours it for himself every morning.
I also love to use this pitcher for herbal iced tea or fresh coconut mint water in summertime. And it’s fancy enough to put on the table when you’re entertaining.
Gifts Under $100
8. Norpro Grain Mill and Oat Flaker
Norpro Grain Mill and Oat Flaker
– I just bought one of these and I can’t tell you how much I love it. Sure, there are fancier oat rollers out there, but this one gets the job done and it’s not expensive. I also bought some sprouted whole oats (see my resources page for sources) and we now flake oats in the morning for freshly rolled oats. No soaking required! (You can soak overnight if you want them to be even more nutritious).
The problem with almost all store-bought oatmeal is that after oats are flaked, they lose all their nutrition (similar to grinding wheat). On top of that, they’re heat-treated so they don’t rancid. So they are essentially a dead product. I also find that the freshly rolled oats taste a million times better. And an added bonus: this is going to make the process of making oatmeal cookies a whole lot easier!
9. Stainless Steel Rice Cooker
Stainless Steel Rice Cooker
- How awesome is this? A rice cooker with a stainless steel bowl. This is actually what I want for Christmas. I have a Zojirushi which I love, but I don’t like the teflon bowl.
10. Boos Block Cutting Board
John Boos Reversible Maple Cutting Board
– There are cutting boards, and then there are cutting boards. This is the cutting board I lust after. Considering that we use cutting boards every single day of our lives, shouldn’t we get the cutting board we dream of? I think so. This baby’s on my wish list.
What About You?
What’s on your wish list this year? Share in the comments below.
Disclosure: cmp.ly/4 and cmp.ly/5
{ 56 comments… read them below or add one }
Great ideas! I was just thinking the other day that I should give away mason jars full of home-rendered pastured lard and bone broth for Christmas. Not sure how many people would appreciate it, though. Your ideas are probably better.
That’s a great idea!
Make sure you ONLY give it to those who appreciate it…or it goes to waste!
Bonny, I’ll take some…
I would appreciate it! Good lard is so expensive!
No one in my family would understand or appreciate a gift of rendered lard, and considering what we paid for the pig, we’re not giving any of the lard away!
I’d love a new electric kettle! So many are poorly reviewed that I’ve put off replacing mine for over a year, and I used it several times a day.
I hear ya. I use my kettle all the time. It has to be sturdy and it has to be cordless. There’s one on Amazon that looks good: http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-AWK-115S-X-Press-2-Liter-Cordless/dp/B000KDVTJI/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1324308006&sr=1-1
I’m kettle hunting as well. The issue for me is that all the electric kettles, even those with a stainless interior, have some sort of plastic or rubber that comes into contact with the boiling water (including the Aroma, Hamilton Beach, etc.). I finally opted to try this inexpensive stovetop one made of borosilicate glass:
http://www.amazon.com/Medelco-12-Cup-Stovetop-Whistling-Kettle/dp/B000V5X826
Only $10!
The several styles of Grosche glass teapots look nice, too.
You have some great ideas. I wouldn’t mind some of those ideas for myself. I already told my hubby I want the Hamilton Beach crockpot from Amazon. Last year I had the great idea of making sourkraut from the NT cookbook to give to everyone. I know they are not eating any fermented foods. To this day I don’t know what some of them thought of it. I am going to give another fermented dish to my side of the family, just not sure about hubby’s side.
etsy (http://www.etsy.com/) is also a great resource for holiday gifts and it gives you the option of supporting small businesses! there are several who sell traditional food items as well, like kefir starter kits.
Oh I totally should have added Etsy!!!
I will add that to my handmade/homemade holiday gift post
That butter dish is so pretty! You have some good ideas. I had been thinking about giving fancy herbal tea assortments from http://www.bulkherbstore.com, a family-owned business here in Tennessee. They have some neat Christmas blends but I especially love their Red Rooibos Spice Chai Tea. A local farmer makes some incredible emu oil lotion bars. They heal chapped hands like nothing else, and she molds them into pretty shapes and adds lovely natural fragrance. I was thinking of giving those also. It is very appealing to me to give local, homemade gifts that are unique and healthy. Also, I thought that a small, simple cookbook with healthy, traditional recipes might help some folks take that first step into healthier eating. My sister’s Eating With The Seasons cookbook would be perfect (http://www.wellfedfamily.net/education.html). Finally, a piece or two of local, handmade pottery would make a unique and beautiful gift (http://www.fragrantmushroom.com/). I’m actually getting a whole set of their pottery dishes! I love local, and I love small family businesses – all of these items fit that bill. Plus, they are all less than $20.
Great ideas!
I”m sorry I missed meeting Well Fed Family at the Wise Traditions conference!
Bulk Herb store is having a Black Friday sale too, 15% off your entire order (with coupon code). Of course I JUST placed an order. I’m sure I can find a few things I missed though.
What a great idea! We shop on-line through a store my husband invested in, so I get paid to shop, avoid the crowds, AND I get everything cheaper than in-store…Great gift ideas! I’ll have to look into some of these for myself and for my family! I run a gift and incentive program for small companies (and sometimes families) for those gifts you just don’t know what to buy for people, it’s lots of fun
How about a stainless steel rice cooker that doubles as a pressure cooker?
http://www.simply-natural.biz/product1393.html
We really don’t recommend pressure cookers — the heat is too high.
Thanks, Those are great ideas:-)
The BOOS Cutting boards are Fabulous..
I do not do good in crowds, so I have found if I go to my Market (Raleys) at 9:00pm,
The market is Not Crowded, and all the Organic Veggies have just been put out,
to get ready for the next day.
The Market closes at 11:00 pm.
That said I live in a small town near Yosemite, Ca.
Hope you all have a Warm Family Thanksgiving..
Enjoy..
Annie
I live in Alaska, we subsistance fish 100+ red salmon a year for our family. I have a lot of salmon roe. We generally cure it to use for bait for king salmon, and toss what’s left.
After veiwing the #1 pick of salmon cavier at $20 for a 1.75oz jar, I’m curious if you have a recipe for homemade salmon cavier?
Lol… I’m right in line with you Sue, for that recipe! I usually feed the roe to my dogs and chickens but I really WANT to be eating it myself. Just timid about figuring out how to do that, I guess.
I have yet to figure out how to take FCLO and have no source for raw milk (at least one that I would drink) but other than those our diet includes most types of traditional foods. I would really love to be making good use of our roe each year (the dogs can still have the skin!).
I’m not an expert on fishing — have only fished a couple of times in my life. I’m pretty sure though that you don’t “do” anything to the roe — you just eat it.
When I was in Russia, my babyshka just put roe in the soup she was making. The texture will probably take a little getting used to for folks who aren’t used to grainy bits in their soup. It will not be salty like caviar or fish eggs in sushi, but I loved it. She always thought it was a great bonus to have bought a fish that wound up having roe in it (no good way to tell at the fish market) and I’m inclined to agree. I miss it.
Last night, we made latkes for dinner (potato pancakes) and topped them with sour cream and salmon roe. Very yummy. Another traditional use is to substitute the latkes for blinis, which are small buckwheat pancakes. You can also just make rye or pumpernickel toast, spread a little cream cheese on it, and top it with the roe. Of course, these are all ways of using expensive roe – to make a little go a long way. If you’ve got an endless supply of it, just put a big spoonful in your mouth and enjoy!
Whatever you do, don’t throw it out. It’s the most nutritious part of the fish.
Okay, now you have me curious too. It looks like you can cure roe for use as bait or for your own consumption, but I’m not sure what the difference is. Here’s a recipe for making your own caviar from raw fish roe: http://honest-food.net/2009/12/02/how-to-make-caviar/. Here’s another: http://www.homebrewchef.com/curingsalmonroe.html. When I searched on “curing salmon roe”, I got a bunch of pages on how to make bait. So, I’m really not sure what the difference is. You are already making bait, so compare what you are doing to these two recipes to see what the difference is. And if you want to get rid of some of it, I’ll happy take it off your hands.
The difference is what you use to cure the eggs. If you use a moderate amount of salt they would be edible whereas if you use borax (or some other inedible substance) they are good only for bait.
Is curing done to preserve them or for some other reason?
What fabulous gift ideas! I was thinking of having my friend (who does pottery) make chic little butter boats to give as gifts. I LOVE mine (functionally-speaking), but there is only one manufacturer making them, and they are totally blah (plain white, or with optional red/navy/green stripes). I just think it would be nice to have a designer-looking piece of pottery to sit out on your countertop to hold Paula Deen’s hallmark ingredient, don’t you?
I subscribe to feedburner.
Amazon Prime is worth every penny. I’ve had it for two years now and it has EASILY paid for itself! Great ideas here.
I like the idea of the picture for when making kefir smoothies or eggnog or raw milk, etc, but there is no top?? I’ve been buying Quatro Stagnoli jars which I love… they have a nice top and are made of glass! The Container Store caries them.
Also, I’ve been looking for a butter dish where you can put the WHOLE two sticks of butter on it… know of any? They’re kind of hard to find..
I think the Healthy 4 Life booklet put out by the Weston Price Foundation would make great gifts for family, friends, your kids’ teachers, school administrators, daycare centers, health care practitioners, etc. The price is right at $10 each or $6 for 10 or more. Go to http://www.westonaprice.org and click on Order Materials on the right.
Also, here’s an online PDF version so you can see how accessible and user friendly it is:
http://www.westonaprice.org/images/pdfs/healthy4life2011.pdf
Norpro makes a great stainless butter dish that holds two full sticks of butter. I have three of them; they are great for larger families or for entertaining.
I got mine through a Frontier buying club. http://www.frontiercoop.com/
Another Alaskan here, and that’s the same question I had.
Do you know anything about “making” caviar? Is it always flown/fresh or is there a way to preserve it at home?
I had literally pounds of that stuff that we gave to our friend with a couple bears (true story, all of it), along with the rest of the salmon carcasses after we filleted them.
Sure the salmon’s great, but I keep wondering how/if we can use more of the fish (next time…).
Try these: http://www.homebrewchef.com/curingsalmonroe.html, http://honest-food.net/2009/12/02/how-to-make-caviar/
Love Amazon Prime! We got the trial at Christmas a few years back and never looked back. We do lists in my family, so at Christmas that 2-day shipping really helps as we don’t exchange lists until Thanksgiving.
I put that crockpot on my wish list. I have a 6-qt pot, and it tested negative for lead with one of those kits you can get from Home Depot. But I tried making stock in it recently and it boiled. If it works in this one it would be worth it to replace it.
Betsy, I’m intrigued — could you tell us anything more about the lead test you can buy at Home Depot?
Beth, it was several years ago. About all I remember is there were several test strips of some sort and you rubbed them on the surface of the item to be tested. And it might have been Lowe’s, not Home Depot. I don’t even remember what department it might have been in. Sorry for my poor memory.
Hi Ann Marie,
Does the Norpro Grain Grinder grind other grains, like rye and wheat, well also?
Yes it does!
I am making a large batch of your chai tea blend, putting it in decorated jars or bags and voila presents for everyone on my list.
I was thinking about doing the same thing!
Me too!
Great ideas, but I am sad to see that you are NOT suggesting that we support local producers/processors. This blog is about real food and we all know that comes locally. The more we look to places like Amazon for our purchases the less power we have to make choices locally. I say empower local producers/processors. This is easy for me living in CA, but I am moving to TX soon and researched tons of local producers there. Even if it is a gift card to a local restaurant I think it is a better alternative.
I agree with you, it’s good to support local producers.
But not all real food is local. I buy my coconut oil from a company in Minnesota that produces it in the Philippines.
Yes, you got me with the coconut oil. And I agree, not everything good is local. But 90% at least. I drink coffee, eat tons of coconut, and love chilies. What would homemade kimchi be without chilies from far away.
But, in a post that is discussing an “approach” to buying i think you should suggest local as a first option. I LOVE your blog, your approach, your personality. You are not a zealot espousing 100% compliance with a specific “diet.”
My local farmers markets have tons of great gift ideas – soaps, oils, preserves, etc. But, I know I am lucky since I live in CA. Someone also suggested Etsy in the comments…another good one.
Thanks for your suggestions!!
My wishlist:
Eden Foods Organic Barley Malt
and
Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave
and
KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer in Empire Red
I like to support local businesses, but Amazon sure is convenient! I just wanted to mention AmazonMom. It’s just like AmazonPrime, but it’s FREE!
You just sign up and I think you get three months free and then you sign up for subscribe and save (which you can cancel immediately) and you get more free months.
FREE FREE FREE
Hee hee hee. I think AmazonMom figures you out after you cancel and resubscribe a few times. The first order I placed came directly to my home. The second one went to the post office where I had to go pick it up. Then I started cancelling and re-subscribing. It worked a time or two, but now all my orders get left at the post office. Bummer.
I still have not paid any shipping though…
These are great ideas, but from the title I was hoping to get some *food* ideas to replace things like instant hot chocolate mix in a jar, etc. The only thing I can think of is home made soup starter, like organic dried peas & beans and some herbs in a jar??? Layered with organic brown rice and a pretty mason lid/ribbon. Instructions included.
Alton Brown has a recipe for homemade hot cocoa mix. You could put it in mason jars, decorate them, and give them as gifts. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/hot-cocoa-recipe/index.html
Thanks for the great ideas! I bought three of the candles for our kids to give to their Sunday School teachers. They passed them out this morning, as I will be out of town next week. Two of the teachers came up to me afterward, and told me how pleased they were. According to my son, the third teacher was also pleased.
Another good source of salmon caviar is Vital Choice. Theirs is about $4.60/oz, but the price goes down when you buy multiple packages. http://www.vitalchoice.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=330&idcategory=283
I asked for this food dehydrator so I can make my own jerky. My son and my husband go crazy for beef jerky and it’s silly to buy it when we have a side of grass-fed beef in the freezer. Once I get the dehydrator, I’ll need a good jerky recipe. Any suggestions?
http://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-3900-Deluxe-Tray-Dehydrator/dp/B001P23IWY/ref=wl_it_dp_v?ie=UTF8&coliid=IBO5UEX01CNT9&colid=1J328I8F33I6E
http://www.amazon.com/Just-Jerky-Complete-Guide-Making/dp/0965357201/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324344454&sr=1-1
I got my dehydrator last year and have a side of beef in my freezer too, plus a ton of salmon. Jerky is on my to-do list… I hate that my husband still buys it at Costco but my boys inhale the stuff!
One chapter in the book is devoted to making jerky out of ground meat and another to fish jerky.
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